…

  [70-7-1 00:10 a.m., Elder Jiu Song’s notes from Amber’s interrogation, to be classified, no recs.]

  …

  Amber sat on the floor. The room was empty; the walls, floor, and ceiling were the same color and made of the same material. It was protected by a large amount of energy. It was something different from a few months ago. Rougher.

  “How exquisite…” Amber started to talk, noticing he was exhausted.

  He tried to self-heal—but he had no energy.

  “What did you do, Song?”

  Amber asked with a calm voice but felt a sting of panic.

  Song was also sitting on the floor.

  There was nothing in this room, only the two of them. The light was artificial; Song was producing it with his energy.

  There was an unfriendly silence between them for a moment.

  Then Song spoke. “I need you to talk. You talk, then you can have questions.”

  “Give me water. Heal me; I am tired. Then I can chat,” Amber said.

  Song disappeared, and a second later, he was back with a glass of water.

  He had it prepared.

  Amber wondered what else Song had prepared somewhere for him.

  “My Song, aren’t you afraid I could harm you with it, scar you more? Oh, no, the scars. You never wanted to heal them; I offered, and you rejected. More water, please. Bring more. Moreover, perhaps some food? I assume our chat won’t be short. Or am I mistaken?” he asked.

  Song, without a word, disappeared. He returned with a tray in a second. He approached and handed everything to him, healing him slightly.

  “Oh, your energy, sweet as then. Did you notice that with age, the energy of some of us changes in taste? To the worst. But yours is as sweet as back then. I am curious; it is my professional curiosity. I have taught energy cultivation… oh, your face. I told you, Song, I know your face very well; I can decipher what you think. I am aware you never liked my methods. Did I force you, though? You said your ‘no,’ and I let go. You also should learn the art of letting go. Furthermore, you came to me because of my other teachings. Why are you angry? Did I say something incorrect? Who taught you the old engineering? Me. I was your tutor, your humble teacher, always. Old enough to know about the pre-ACD machines. Were you ever thankful? Who else would give you this knowledge?”

  Amber stopped talking and reached for another glass of water. He glanced at the food, which surprised him.

  “You remember what I like and dislike? How touching. I know you well enough, Song, to understand that you need something from me. When you are polite, it is like forcing the rain to fall up instead of down. Dare I say. Song, do you want to have a real talk with your teacher? Oh, I see. You do. Finally, after so many years of silence between us. My dear, your face, again. Changing with every minute.”

  Amber paused for a second.

  “What is the plan, Song? I know you too well to be delusional that I will be alive after our talk. This time, I have no energy. Tell me.”

  “Your trial has waited for us to find you for twenty-nine years. It was officially confirmed, you should be executed whenever possible. No further board acceptance is needed. There are two options, Amber. First, I will execute your sentence right away. Second, I will listen to you answering my questions, I will answer some of your questions, and then I will execute your sentence,” Song said.

  “How wonderful, the procedures fulfilled. Did you also prepare an official resignation from the tutoring? I vividly remember our recent meeting. Oh yes, I am very attached to the rituals. As for these options, how thoughtful. To give me a chance to have a conversation. And with whom? You, the Sect’s Commander, wasting time on me. How fantastic. However, Song. I am not sure if I am in the mood currently. You see, I am tired.”

  Amber said it but had an additional thought that it would be better to talk and stall him here. If he wasn’t mistaken—

  “What hour is it, and what day?” Amber asked.

  “It’s thirty minutes past midnight. You weren’t unconscious for long.”

  Amber felt a sense of elation.

  Half an hour until the moment the whole action was planned. It might be worth talking for an hour or more. To be sure that Song wouldn’t come back to the camp…

  “I will talk. Give me more energy. I won’t attack.” Amber said.

  Song reached out to him and passed over another portion.

  “How sweet. I genuinely wanted to taste it, even if for the last time. I asked you. Did you notice that the taste changes?”

  “I did.”

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  “Did you notice that not in every case? I wonder, what is the reason some people’s energy gets old, and for others it stays the same? It is my professional curiosity, as I mentioned,” Amber said.

  “If it is not cultivated properly, the energy gets old and changes taste, like food does,” Song answered.

  “Really? Sensational. Did you discover it?”

  “Lan.”

  “Oh, Elder Liu Lan. She is back and inventing again. Lan was marvelous back then. She was.”

  “The same as other Elders,” Song suddenly said.

  “Oh?”

  “You killed her, Amber. Am I right?”

  “Remarkable, straight to the point. Is this what you want to talk about? You weren’t even born then, my young Commander. Why bother—don’t move. I said I would talk. You are behaving as if you had never known me. Acting rude, such a brute sometimes. Did you forget I despise nonsense the same as lack of basic etiquette? Do not pretend. You must also remember I like to chat. You always liked to listen to my stories about pre-ACD. I recollect it clearly; you could spend hours listening. Be patient. You were patient back then; I hope you have not changed into a short-tempered person. That would be common and very disappointing.”

  Amber stopped; there was an unfriendly silence between them.

  “You were always rough on the edges, yet calm and honest inside. Boldly acting, mischievous even. But not a rapid one. That idea, of you two being friends, you and Wei Yue, the current Sect’s Leader, the wonder kid of his times. I was then very puzzled about why he was friends with you. Medium energy level, covered in scars, said to be surly toward everyone. When I followed and observed you a little, I was astonished. I still do not know. Why did you hide your energy? Answer me.”

  “I was captured by cartel because of my energy,” Song said.

  “That simple. But why to hide it when you were already accepted into the Sect?”

  “Because of people like you, Amber.”

  “Oh, straight to the point, again. Heartbreaking. I admit, I won’t lie to you, Song. I confess, I was attracted to your energy. It was the first thing that caught my attention.”

  “You wanted to steal it.”

  “How inelegant. No, I didn’t, you degenerate. You flinched! You still do not like it when I call you that. I can even guess reasons, but about it later, am I right? Isn’t our talk a session to clarify our past encounters? Just a thought. In the pre-ACD, it would have been called a therapy meeting.”

  “I wanted to taste your life energy, take bits for myself. I admit. Am I sincere enough? Your youth, Song. Looking at you over the past few years, my first thought was that I liked you more when you were sixteen.”

  “You were then like a flame; you shone with youth. Body, resilient, full of vigor. Recently, I thought that as you became more mature, I wouldn’t like you anymore. That I only liked you when young. But no. Now you’re full of a different strength. Your body, Song—don’t take off your clothes; it would be inelegant while we’re talking. I’ll ask about it later. But even in them, I see, it’s the same quality. Exquisite.”

  “As I mentioned, I can assess and evaluate. Your strength, your will to live—that was what attracted me, much more than energy. Though indeed it started with energy. What’s your level now?” Amber asked.

  “A few more points than when I told you last time,” Song said.

  “Your energy must be vast. What do you do with your energy? Do you even need so much of it?”

  “I need it for my work.”

  “Oh. Your work. For a moment, I thought you had stopped working and cultivating because you were too engaged with your husband. How wrong of me. You were developing your weapons in silence. Does the board know? That you can destroy Ability, because this is what you did to me, am I correct? Do they know? It’s a rhetorical question, Song; you do not need to answer. I know the answer.”

  “As a side note, I need to say. What a doll he is, your husband. And that you married the one Young Mr. Clar had used—do I detect anger? You have to know. Do not say you are not aware of the details. Song. My Song. Your husband was not sincere?”

  “I taught Young Master how to be a better man. His obsessions… Young Master had fantasies about a golden dick; here I am talking about your husband’s dick. He even managed to abuse your husband. He used the opportunity; I will give it to him—he succeeded once. Oh, success is too strong a word, but he achieved something and mentioned it often afterward. A dick of gold. Is it really golden? I never had a chance to glance; I should have. The more I learn about whom you married, the more complex feelings I detect in my heart. However, were you aware of it? I see you were. I know it from Young Mr. Clar, but surely, it could be distorted.”

  “Food for thought, Song. Did you know? Young Mr. Clar claimed that he was provoked. That your current husband flirted with him. Showed Young Master his body, letting him watch it in its full glory. Were you aware? Oh, I see you knew, but not all. How wonderful, we can chat about it.”

  “Regarding your husband, I am curious. How did it happen? You were unable to love. You said it yourself; you had planned never to be attached—your words. Not only that, but you liked having passionate adventures, many of them. I can see your face. You want to ask me something. Ask, I allow.”

  “No.”

  “No? How amusing. Every time I heard your ‘no,’ I had to think of a way to try, but from another angle. Do you recall? Often, I managed to change your ‘no’ to ‘show me.’ And I did then. Your teacher, always ready to share knowledge with his pupil. Am I right?”

  “My Young Master, he was obsessed, you are aware. I am not sure; did you ever meet? Oh, yes, you had to meet. I can see your face now, this hate. You did meet. You did meet, and you couldn’t do anything to him. Oh, yes, I can see you couldn’t. I am telling you Song. You cannot protect who you like. You will learn this truth painfully. Oh, you will cry.”

  Amber stopped. “What time is it now?” he asked.

  “One ten.”

  “Exquisite. About Young Mr. Clar, I have only to say, he was mad. I can proudly say that his madness was both suppressed by me and triggered by me as well. I hated Clar. At the same time, I wanted to live peacefully, and the money was easy. To take energy from them also was easy.”

  “I taught Young Mr. Clar how to—his words—be better at fucking. He was very vulgar. I had to be careful not to absorb his style. But I liked his hair; it was as if playing with fire, his grandfather was the thrill. Young Master was at first shy, later brutal even, but still obedient. Did what I wanted him to do. He reached a skill level where he could give pleasure.”

  “Song, you know how demanding I am.”

  “Young Mr. Clar. His flaw was that he was obsessed. At the time, I didn’t care who his crush was. I offered ideas and tried to show paths that would lead to success. I presented Young Master with the ways so that he could achieve his satisfaction.”

  “He did it in his style. From what I know, he did not manage—his words again—to fuck his crush.”

  “How unfortunate that he died so young. I still claim that Young Master could have achieved what he wanted, one way or another. His madness lasted until the end; he wanted to catch and keep his crush forever, hiding him in some dungeon, perhaps as a captive princess, to be used at will.”

  “… Oh, I can sense you are angry. Why are you angry with me? You should be angry with your husband. As I told you, there was more to it. That you couldn’t do anything to Young Mr. Clar even being the Army Commander. With power but powerless. Delicious. Oh, I sense you are even more angry. Why with me? Be angry with your powerlessness. I need a break. I require a break. You, Song, are visibly too affected. Go and walk around, I beg you.”

  “No. I know all this. You are avoiding my question. I did not ask about Clar. Did you do it? Speak.”

  “I changed my mind; I want to sleep. Leave me alone. What? Do you want to stay here? Are you worried about me? I will not commit suicide. Oh, stay. Watch over your old teacher. Look at me as much as you want, my Song.”